Ethical Principles and Publication Policy
Atatürk University Journal of Agricultural Faculty is published three times a year (January, May, September). The journal publication’s language is Turkish and English. Scientific research and review articles related to all fields of agriculture are included in the journal. Free Open Access is provided to all articles in the journal. In addition, our journal support Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI). This journal uses the LOCKSS system to allow it to create permanent archives.

The authors agree that the article, if accepted for publication by the Journal will be licensed under a Creative Commons International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). This allows the work to be copied and distributed in any medium or format provided that the original article is appropriately cited. However, the articles work cannot be used for commercial purposes.

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
The publication process at Atatürk University Journal of Agricultural Faculty is the basis of the improvement and dissemination of information objectively and respectfully. Therefore, the procedures in this process improves the quality of the studies. Peer-reviewed studies are the ones that support and materialize the scientific method. At this point, it is of utmost importance that all parties included in the publication process (authors, readers and researchers, publisher, reviewers and editors) comply with the standards of ethical considerations. Atatürk University Journal of Agricultural Faculty expects all parties to hold the following ethical responsibilities.

The following ethical duties and responsibilities are written in the light of the guide and policies made by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. Publication and Authorship
• The references used in this article text should be given alphabetically in the references section according to the surname of the author.
• If there are institutions or organizations providing support to the subject of research article, superscript asterisk should be placed to the end of the article title, and the necessary explanations should be made in the footnote of the first page of the article.
• Articles submitted to the journal for publication are controlled by a suitable program in terms of similarities with articles published in various journals and numerous Internet resources. As a result of controls, articles showing 20% or greater similarity are rejected.
• Articles identified as false data used in any way will be rejected.
• Articles previously published in another journal shall not be taken into consideration.
• For giving consideration to any article -concerning diseases and pests accepted as compulsorily notifiable to the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry conducted within the borders of Turkey and transformed into a manuscript for the journal, it must be submitted to the editor along with a written permission received from the Ministry.

2. Ethical Responsibilities of Editors
• The editor and field editors of Atatürk University Journal of Agricultural Faculty should hold the following ethical responsibilities that are based on the guides "COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" and "COPE Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" published as open Access by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Editorsare responsible for each study published in Atatürk University Journal of Agricultural Faculty. In this respect, the editors have the following roles and responsibilities:
• Ensuring the continuous development of the journal,
• Managing the procedures aimed to improve the quality of the studies published in the journal,
• Supporting freedom of expression, • Ensuring academic integrity,
• Following the procedures without making concessions on intellectual property rights and ethical standards,
• Editors must make positive or negative decisions about the studies' importance, originality, validity, clarity in wording and suitability with the journal's aims and objectives.
• Editors must accept the studies that are within the scope of publication into pre-review process unless there are serious problems with the study.
• Editors must not ignore positive suggestions made by reviewers unless there are serious problems with the study.
• "Blind Review and Review Process" must be published and editors must prevent possible diversions in the defined processes.
• Authors should be provided with explanatory and informative feedback.

Editors have the following duties and responsibilities in their relations with reviewers:
Editors must;
• Choose reviewers according to the subject of the study.
• Provide the information and guidance reviewers may need during the review process.
• Observe whether there are conflicting interests between reviewers and authors.
• Keep the identities of reviewers confidential in blind review.
• Encourage the reviewers to review the manuscript in an unbiased, scientific and objective tone.
• Develop practices and policies that increase the performance of reviewers.
• Take necessary steps to update the reviewer pool dynamically.
• Prevent unkind and unscientific reviews.
• Make effort to ensure the reviewer pool has a wide range.
Editors must make sure that the members of the editorial board follow the procedures in accordance with the publication policies and guidelines, and must inform the members about the publication policies and developments.

Moreover, editors must;
• Ensure that the members of the editorial board review the manuscripts in an unbiased and independent manner.
• Send manuscripts for review based on the subject of expertise of the editorial board members.
Precautions against possible Abuse and Malpractice
Editors are supposed to take precautions against possible abuse and malpractice. They must conduct investigations meticulously and objectively in determining and evaluating complaints about such situations. They must also share the results of the investigation.
Ensuring Academic Integrity
Editors must make sure that the mistakes, inconsistencies or misdirections in studies are corrected quickly.
Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
Editors are responsible for protecting the intellectual property rights of all the articles published in the journal and the rights of the journal and author(s) in cases where these rights are violated. Also, editors must take the necessary precautions in order to prevent the content of all published articles from violating the intellectual property rights of other publications.
Constructiveness and Openness to Discussion
Editors must•
• Pay attention to the convincing criticism about studies published in the journal and must have a constructive attitude towards such criticism.
• Grant the right of reply to the author(s) of the criticized study.
• Not ignore or exclude the study that include negative results.
Complaints
Editors must examine the complaints from authors, reviewers or readers and respond to them in an explanatory and enlightening manner.
Political and Economic Apprehensions
Neither the owner of the journal, publisher or any other political or economic factor can influence the independent decision taking of the editors.

3. Responsibilities of Authors
• Authors are obliged to participate in peer review process of the manuscripts submitted.
• The contribution given to the article by authors whose names appear on the manuscript has to be notified to the editor.
• Authors should send their articles prepared in accordance with the instructions for authors of the journal.
• The authors whose names are taking part in any article submitted to the journal for publication are deemed to have declared that data of all kinds presented in this article are real and original.
• The authors cannot send the article submitted to the journal to another journal to be published simultaneously.
• The authors are obliged to make all kinds of the corrections about to the articles subjected to peer review by related referees and fulfilling requests of the editor.
• In scientific studies based on experimental animals and sent for the purpose of publication in the Atatürk University Journal of Agricultural Faculty; the statements of "The approval of Local Ethics Committee was obtained" or "The principles of Board of Ethics have been adhered to" should take place in Materials and Methods section of the article. If the approval of a Local Ethics Committee has been obtained beforehand, the Author(s) should indicate the name of authority issuing the approval of ethics committee and the confirmation number.
• The authors are obliged to comply with the copyright conditions relating to the material used or those from other sources and sign a contract stating the transfer of copyright to the Journal.
• Any liability that may arise from the article included in the journal belongs to the author(s).

4. Responsibilities of Referees
• The referees considering the article should make an objective and impartial assessment.
• The referees declaring any conflicts of interest with article authors or institutions and organizations supporting the article should inform the editorship about the situation and not involve in the article evaluation.
• Referees cannot share the data of articles sent to them for consideration with anyone.
• The referees recommending that the article can be published after corrections have the right to re-examine the article after the necessary corrections have been made.

5. Editorial Board Responsibilities
• Preliminary assessments of the papers are made by the Editorial Board.
• Articles to be evaluated are sent to at least two referees by the Editorial Board. Editorial Board decides the acceptance, rejection or modification of articles depending on referees’ reports.
• The Editorial Board may not use the data of unpublished article for their personal affairs in any way and not share this data in any way.
• When the evaluation process of articles is completed, the editor forwards the decision to the author.
• The Editor, when deciding on the rejection or acceptance of an article, should not to be affected by the conflict of interest of the person or persons taking part among the authors.

6. Responsibilities of Advisory Board
• Advisory Board members should keep the data of articles sent to them for evaluation secret and cannot share them in any way.
• If referees determine that data in the article being evaluated are similar to those published in another article previously, they should report the situation immediately to the Journal Editorship.
• Referees should assess the articles sent to them in an objective way and express their views in clear and understandable language.
• If a referee had concluded that the article sent to be evaluated it is not appropriate for the assessment in person, it should be notified the Editorship as soon as possible.

7. Publishing Ethics Issues
• The integrity of academic records should be created and maintained.
• If necessary, sufficient correction, explanation, or apology should be published.

8. Unethical Behavior
Should you encounter any unethical act or content in Atatürk University Journal of Agricultural Faculty apart from the ethical responsibilities listed above, please notify the journal by e-mail to Editor in Chief Prof. Dr. Göksel TOZLU (auzfdeditor@atauni.edu.tr).